MN Blog Cabin Roundup, 11/06

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We’re planning extensions to our light rail transit system in the Twin Cities! The Southwest Extension will bring the Green Line down to Eden Prairie, and the Bottineau Extension will send Blue Line service up to a Target corporate headquarters and a greenfield in Brooklyn Park. The price of the two projects was projected to be $2.5 billion last year, but now they’re expected to cost $3.5 billion. Maybe this is a problem that arises from demanding cost estimates when engineering is 1 percent complete. Maybe this doesn’t matter because we have the federal government paying half the cost. Maybe, as Nick Magrino has suggested from time to time, it’s a good opportunity to evaluate the way we plan transit projects in the Twin Cities.

Each legislator has different priorities, but the one issue that will profoundly impact all of those issues for decades to come is Minnesota’s education achievement gap. If we can narrow the achievement gap in our increasingly diverse schools, it will go a long way to making progress on all of the issues just mentioned.

Adam Levy, best known as the front man of the popular indie band the Honeydogs, takes a pause from sipping a cup of coffee and looks off to the side, mentally traveling back to the weeks following the death of his son Daniel, almost four years ago now.

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Daniel Levy suffered from depression and possible schizophrenia. He had hallucinations. He was convinced that he was evil and tried to exorcise his demons by taking his prescribed medication, seeking counseling and creating sketchbooks filled with intricate drawings. After several suicide attempts, he finally ended up taking his own life at the age of 21.

It was fabulous to be back on my bike. First, it had been almost two months since my last ride due to a medley of out-of-town travel, bad weather and a non-biking related injury. Second, it got me out of work on a spectacular June afternoon. Third, my primary destination, Downtown, and the story to come with it, were arresting.